RE: is there a porblem if I move files from one folder to the oth er in the repository

[Jim.Hyslop]

Aditya Gandhi wrote:
> Hi all,
> We on our project are re-organizing the way we store data and 
> as part of that I need to move an existing folder to a 
> different location.
[...]
> My question is how can I go about doing this without 
> disturbing the history.
> 
> As per my understanding simply creating the new folder X 
> using a CVS client and then copying the folder A on the 
> repository (server) from /rep_root/A to /rep_root/X/A will work.
>
> I just want a confirmation on whether tags/ branches/ dates 
> or anything else will be a problem after the move.
Yes, these will cause problems if you just copy the repository.

In the original directory, you need to remove all branch tags, and use 'cvs
remove' to remove the files from the main trunk.

In the copied directory, you need to remove all non-branch tags.

By removing the tags, you ensure that the old copies do not appear when you
get the latest revision of a branch (including the trunk), and that the new
copies do not appear when you get a specific revision.

You will still get both copies if you update/checkout by date, though.
There's nothing you can do about that.

> I will be 
> bringing down the repository for this time period
That won't be necessary. You can make it read-only temporarily by creating a
$CVSROOT/CVSROOT/writers file that has only your user ID in it. You can
remove the file as soon as you've 'cvs removed' the original files.

So, the steps are:
- back up the repository
- Create or modify $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/writers
- Copy the directory
- 'cvs remove' the original files
- Delete or restore $CVSROOT/CVSROOT/writers
- remove the branch tags in the original directory
- remove the non-branch tags in the copied directory
- (optional) back up the repository again (do NOT overwrite the previous
backup)
- tell everyone to update (and don't forget the -d and -P options) - a fresh
checkout is not required.

-- 
Jim Hyslop
Senior Software Designer
Leitch Technology International Inc. (http://www.leitch.com)
Columnist, C/C++ Users Journal (http://www.cuj.com/experts)